“Wild guess, the abuse?”
Her head nodded against his. “I told you that you didn’t want me. You thought I was lying?”
He kissed her temple again, the subtle reassurance. “I heard you and didn’t care about none of that. I want you. I need you. I’m not here for right now. No fuckin’ way you gonna give me everything you have and I’m going to let that go. If we have kids, we have them; if we don’t, we don’t. It’s not changing a damn thing.”
“You know what else you got from your daddy?” Remedy posed, looking up at him.
“Tell me. I’m learning every day with him that I’m more of Ernie than I thought.”
“That slick shit, that honey. That’s why they call him Sweet Lick Ernie. I’m gonna start calling you Sweet Lick Erys,” Remedy said with a chuckle.
“I mean you do give me some sweet shit but nah, don’t call me that shit. Before you know it, I’ll be wearing loud ass suits and dumping the whole bottle of cologne on me,” Erys groaned with a shiver. “The whole house smells like that shit.”
Remedy laughed harder. “Stuntin’ like your daddy.”
“Rem, you are not going to ride around in a Cadillac with me wearing a shiny suit,” Erys stated.
She turned to him. “I did it with your daddy for a year and that’s my homie. Why wouldn’t I ride around with you and you’re my man? I fear we are stuck together.”
“Damn straight. Since you moved your mean ass in.”
“No, sir, you moved me in. I went kickin’ and screamin’ too.”
Erys threw his head back and laughed. “I don’t remember it like that. I said I was movin’ his ass in and you said I’m goin’ with you, big daddy.”
Remedy laughed and nudged him. “Erys, please. Never have I ever called you big daddy. I could think of some other names but we aren’t going backwards.”
“Look at your mean ass having fun here,” Erys buzzed.
She smiled softly. “I like it here.”
He almost slipped, exposing his heart and all the emotions Remedy brought to the surface and was teaching him how to manage. In his eyes, it needed to be grand because she deserved the action and the showmanship. If he could slice his chest open and hand his heart over to her and still function, he would. He was custom designed, made and fortified for her.
“Good, ‘cause I’m not letting you leave. You leave, I will be dragging you back kickin’ and screamin’.”
Remedy giggled. “You’d have to find me first.”
“That ain’t an issue. Your scent is embedded in my skin. I’ll always find you,” he cemented his statement with a swipe of his thumb over her bottom lip. The buzzing in his pocket stopped him from making out with his lady on a park bench like he was a teenager who actually got to experience the things teenaged boys should’ve.
Remedy repositioned herself so he could retrieve it without obstruction. “Ernie’s done?”
“Yeah,” he breathed, reading the text from the doctor’s office.
Remedy grabbed his hand. “Hey, look at me.”
He did.
“Whatever it is – good, bad, whatever. We got it. We’ll get a plan and we’ll manage it. Don’t beat yourself up. You came back just in time to love your father and let him love you,” Remedy spoke to the anxiety he felt. “Emphasis on let him love you.”
Erys gave her a small smile before standing. “I hear you. Using that mouth for good.”
She laughed softly. “I’ve been using it for good. I just like you now, so you reap the benefits.”
Back inside the examination room, Ernie walked in a wind of laughter. “You said you didn’t have a husband, right?”
“Mr. Ernie, I said I was engaged,” the nurse laughed, holding the door open for him.
“Now listen, a fiancé ain’t a husband. Neither of them don’t mean shit to me. I’m Steal a Bitch Ernie,” Ernie said matter-of-factly as he climbed onto the examination table. “Come listen to my heart. You got it skipping.”
